Back in September, I was at training camp with several speedy friends. I’d taken August off so didn’t have the fitness to do much training “with” them. It was more like I was nearby, doing the same route (or, some days, half the same route).
Each night, we’d sit down for dinner and get to talking about life. Last week’s article on enhancement & replacement came from one of those discussions. At another dinner, we were talking about winning, elite careers and the value of seeking excellence (even when we fail). Towards the end of that dinner, Chris looked over and asked me, “What’s the point?”
I could have spoken for an hour.
As you can guess from the tone of this publication, it’s been a long while since money, saving taxes or conventional status has motivated my actions. Even when I was making less than the people cleaning our office building (circa 1990), I felt like I had enough money.
So… the first thing that came to mind was… if it’s not about money then don’t fool yourself.
Make Yourself The Project
Character As Foundation
I call this my Be A Better Man strategy. It does wonders for feelings of stress, anxiety and inadequacy. I get a lot wrong. I make mistakes all the time but… in my heart, I know am a good guy and make decisions with my marriage (then family) in mind.
That’s one point.
Make The Team Better
But the point is not exclusively about service to others. Eventually, that sucks the life out of my soul.
Solving Problems
So what interests me?
For the last 30 years, I have found the problem of human performance extremely interesting.
I enjoy the challenge of sharing my explanations as concisely as possible.
Much (perhaps most) of what I was taught from 1983 to 2003 was false. It was worse than false, it was misleading to people (like my younger self) who were working their butts off seeking to improve. Back then, I purchased an exercise physiology lab, and hired an exercise physiologist to learn about human performance. We had a wonderful cohort of athletes (our team) to run experiments on. I was the lead guinea pig, and the keenest student.
It was deeply satisfying to watch our “heretical” ideas on nutrition, carbohydrate consumption, training intensity mix, race strategy… become scientifically mainstream in the decades that followed. I took a ten-year break from sport, and when I returned, there were champion athletes who had taken our ideas and improved them. There were coaches and scientists working with our ideas.
I don’t take credit for any of the ideas. I’m not sure I have any (!) original thoughts. What I did was spend time with the greatest endurance athletes of the 1980s and 1990s. We learned from them, applied their ideas and did experiments to learn more. There’s tremendous knowledge out there if you simply ask.
Most practitioners don’t write down what they are doing. They keep doing it.
I’m doing the same thing right now.
Through my super-swimming wife, I have access to the greatest endurance athletes of today1.
We have endless podcasts where coaches, scientists & athletes can’t help but tell us what they really think2.
With a bit of work, I can access the smartest people in any field, anywhere.
It’s a golden-age of learning. I have friends around the globe who will patiently answer my questions. At home, I’m surrounded by excellence and the smartest minds in sport.
That’s a lot of fun.
Moving Knowledge Forward
Just like it’s not all about service, it’s not all about fun.
I have a quirk. I enjoy proving people wrong. Both as a former fat-guy financier who won Ultraman and disproving theories of performance, created by people who have never performed.
My current focus is the aging athlete, and aging in general. Much of what we’ve been told (or sold) is incorrect. I touched on one theme last week (it’s not about the hormones) but there are others.
Once again, I feel conventional knowledge is false and want to gather evidence to support better explanations.
What we initially experience as aging is metabolic disfunction.
I thought I was getting old. It turns out I was metabolically detrained. Once I addressed3 that aspect of health & fitness… I felt a whole lot better. I do not feel “20 again” but I felt much better. I demonstrate “better” via my race performances and training diary.
Once again, not my idea. The concept came from Iñigo San Millán and Alan Couzens. What I did was apply their knowledge to the best of my ability and document the $hit out the journey.
The Point
The game is one of knowledge creation and working towards better explanations. To give my explanations reach, I do what I did during my elite career… learn from the best, document and perform at the highest level4.
While playing my game, I meet my obligations to my minor children, strengthen my marriage and resist the temptation to hurt myself for short-term gain.
The point is whatever we want it to be, and we are free to change direction at any time.
What’s the most interesting problem in your life?
Maybe it’s the fact that I live in a narrow niche but “the greats” have always been accessible and helpful to me. The greats love what they do. We all love talking about what we love.
When we are unscripted, talking continuously for 1-2 hours… we can’t help but disclose what we really think. I love listening to expert practitioners. Likewise, the influencers who lack substance become clear in an interview. Relentlessly weed the clueless from your feed. Don’t score easy points on them, while polluting the quality of your thought.
Chapter One here and YouTube Seminar here. Basic fitness is the best anti-aging protocol available to you.
It’s been a long long time since I read it, but this reminded me of the book “Finite and infinite games” by James Carse. Seeking money and status are finite games with winners and losers and discrete goals, where as seeking knowledge is an “infinite” game, which self perpetuates across people and time.
So good
I think there comes a point in one's life where "the point" reveals itself and you captured it beautifully